November at the Zoo

Every November the city of Jacksonville hosts a "kids free" event in which kids get admission into various places for free.  The Jacksonville Zoo is a participant in this event.  We haven't visited the zoo in a couple of years, so we decided to head that way.  We had a great time.  They have installed a new "great ape" area since we were last there, and it is impressive.  We enjoyed seeing it as well as the other animal exhibits. 

The Fair

The kids' robotics teams had a booth at the fair this year.  The goal of the booth was to let people know about the VEX program in hopes that it would raise interest / inspire other schools to start their own teams (so that we don't have to travel so far to compete).  During their two-hour shift, the kids talked to passers-by about the program and did robot demonstrations.  Once their shift was over, we went and rode the rides for about an hour.  Even though they enjoyed the rides, they wanted to be with their friends who were still at the booth. For this reason we went back and stayed at the booth until it closed for the evening.  We had been at the fair for five hours at this point, so we decided to grab a bite to eat.  The fair was much more crowded in the evening than it had been earlier in the day.  Still, we were able to squeeze in a few more rides and attractions. Our last stop was at the snack booth to get funnel cake and fried Oreos before heading home.  It was a full but fun day.

Hot Air Balloons

 Our neighboring county celebrated its bicentennial with a hot air balloon festival.  Hot air balloons are not common in our area, so we were sure to take advantage of having them so close.  We made it to the festival in time to see the balloons glow and take a tethered balloon ride.  Bad weather was rolling in, so the festivities were cut short for us.  Still, we enjoyed the festival for the time that we were there.

Elementary and Middle School Robotics

It's a good thing that the kids really like robotics because we are going to be spending a lot of time with VEX IQ this year.  Both kids recently had their first tournament of the season, and since we are doing both middle and elementary robotics this was an all-day affair.  And, yes, we are still the only teams south of the Atlanta area, so we have to drive a long way to even be able to compete. 

  Olivia is on the middle school team this year, and it is much more involved than the elementary team.  The kids do EVERYTHING (design, build, program, troubleshoot,  strategize, etc) themselves at the middle school level.  The middle school has six robots, and Olivia is on robot Z.  Robot Z is special because it is the "girl-powered" bot purchased with a grant.  Her team, therefore, is made up mostly (60%) of girls.  All of the kids on her team work well together.  Their robot performed pretty well at competition.  There are some things they plan to change, but it went well overall.  They had a solid middle-of-the-pack finish.  During the awards ceremony, they learned that they had won the Judge's Award based on their team interview and notebook.  The judges noted that their team exhibited great teamwork and creativity.  This is the first time that either of my kids have won a trophy at a competition, so Olivia was over the moon.  Another of the middle school teams won the whole thing and two teams qualified for state.  It was a great day for the Robogators.

 

 After a the middle school competition, it was time to watch Owen and the elementary team.  The elementary team had four robots competing at this tournament.  Unfortunately, things did not go so well for Robot A (Owen's bot).  They just could not catch a break. There were some glitches with the bot and they had terrible luck with alliance matches.  They finished at the back of the pack- which was definitely unexpected.  They are determined, however, to fix the robot, regroup, and try again. While this is not the start we wanted, we could still have a great season- and that's what we're hoping for.

Halloween...If it Hadn't Been for You Meddling Kids

We had a great Halloween this year.  Our family dressed up as the Scooby gang with Sam joining us as Fred (and he was perfect). 

 And we were not the only themed family.  The Burgess clan were farmers with a cabbage patch kid.  Super cute!

As usual, we met up at Granny's and trick-or-treated in her neighborbood. The kids received loads of candy- most of it from the treat bags that their grandmas / aunts give them.  This is probably Olivia's last year of being able to go door-to-door, so I'm glad it was a good one.

Fall Soccer

The kids had a great fall soccer season.  They were on team "fire" and only lost one game all season.  The final game was the championship and it was a nail biter.  It was played late in the evening and was lightly raining the whole time.  In spite of these unfavorable conditions, our team came together and won.   As always, we appreciate the hard work and dedication of our coaches.  Our coaches this season really put a lot of time into working with our kids, and it definitely showed.

The Pumpkin Patch

I can't believe that my children are 12 and 10 and that I've never taken them to a pumpkin patch.  Sure, they've been to various farms.  There have been numerous school pumpkin patch field trips, but I was always at work and would get a grandparent, aunt, or Brian to go as chaperone.  Seeing as how Olivia's tastes are changing so fast, I feel like these are the last golden days of doing "kid stuff".  I don't want to miss out on taking my kids to a pumpkin patch.  So, we loaded up on Saturday and headed over to Poppell Farms.  When I told the kids where we were going they were kind of like "we're too old for this", to which I responded, "tough, we're going".  Even though there was some initial grumbling, they both had fun once we got there.  We did all of the activities- hay ride, corn maze, farm activities, etc...  My favorite was the corn maze  They had bingo boards set up inside the maze, and if you found "bingo", you got a prize.  At the end of the day we each chose a mini-pumpkin to bring home.  I'm so glad that we went.  I think the kids had way more fun then they thought they would have.  I might even be able to convince them to go again next year.